We spent the week in the office catching up from being gone for ten days. We organized materials for our new field couple that will be coming to Frankfurt next week for training. We prepared the Nationwide Austrian project for presentation. This project with Caritas will involve nine facilities (7 homeless shelters & 2 after school programs for immigrant children) in five cities in Austria. The donation will include bathroom and kitchen remodels, stoves, washing machines, beds, and school furniture.
Our office is a quiet place with most of the staff taking their summer vacations. Europeans in general have a good work/life balance. We admire their priorities. In Italy businesses literally close down in August.
Our assignment changed, we now support humanitarian work Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Malta, and Greece. That means we are managing about 50+ open projects in various stages of development.
On Saturday we helped a sister in our branch move. We got our steps in since she lived in a third-floor apartment. Afterwards we went to an organ concert with the Muellecks at the Bad Homburg Castle Chapel. And then a farewell dinner with the Nelsons. They are one of the four humanitarian couples in the office, and they go home on August 1. We are really going to miss them!! They fed us our first meal when we arrived in Germany. They helped train us. They showed us how to navigate Frankfurt on the train system and went with us to buy our bikes. They are dear people and we are going to feel a little lost without them!
We were recently called to serve in our small Offenbach branch. Debbie leads the singing in sacrament meeting and Ed plays the organ. This was our first week. It is a little tricky leading the music while singing the hymns in German!
Elder and Sister Briggs came to our apartment for Sunday dinner and then we listened to President Oaks speak to saints in the Europe Central Area in a broadcast from Brussels.
The weeks are flying by!
With love, Elder & Sister Lamb (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 